Falling

So it's fall, which is nice. What's it mean?

- Hayrides
- Pumpkin patches
- Camping
- Mountain trips to see the leaves change
- Football!!
- Cooler weather
- Shorter days

It's all good stuff...I prefer the heat of summer (honestly, I like it hot) but the fall season has all those great things to offer. This weekend offers a fall favorite for our group up in Helen, GA at Oktoberfest. The grandparents are watching the kids, so the Garlands and Eric and Emily will be joining us for a weekend of camping, chicken dancing and drinking beer. Weather is supposed to dip up in the mountains to a cool lower 40's to upper 30's overnight, with highs only in the 60's during the day (somehow that always seems to happen the weekend of Oktoberfest).

Skipping the UGA vs. Vandy homecoming game. It's never fun...either the game is a blowout for UGA (snooze...) or it's a tight "exciting" game. Exciting isn't good when you're playing Vandy. So either way, I just hope for the W and go on about my business.

GA/FL game is just 2 short weeks away. My grandfather, my father, my uncle, my cousin and I all make the trip each year as a sort of "guys retreat," and it's usually very relaxing. Then game day comes along and it's full speed ahead in Jacksonville, FL where UGA has the recent win from last year, but a more troubled past of losses against the Gators. Still a lot of fun at that game (just more fun to win, obviously).

After 27/28 years, you wouldn't think it would be surprising, but it is strange to see the sun disappear over the horizon before 8pm. And then winter comes along and it's even earlier. Give me the long days of summer anytime.

I'm curious what kind of stuff you readers out there do with your fall months (if there are any of you left after all these years). Any kind of trips that you take? Things on your fall "to-do" list this year?

I lost the bet

Well, as many of you have already noticed, I lost a recent bet. Georgia and Alabama played a football game this past Saturday in Athens that was supposed to be the biggest game in the past 20 or so years for Georgia. SEC championship and BCS National Championship all on the line in this early season matchup of top 10 teams.

I had seen Georgia and Alabama play every single game so far this season, and both looked very good, but my bet was that Georgia was going to win. Not just win, but win big.

Well, at stake between my friend David and I was that time honored act of making your Facebook profile picture and Facebook status a complete and total reflection of who you are, what you are all about, what you were up to recently, how incredibly awesome you are. David, being a Bama fan, felt perhaps as strongly in favor of a Bama win as I did a Georgia win. David, being the winner of this bet by virtue of his team's total domination of Georgia football, now has the satisfaction of not only saving his own profile from ruination, but ensuring that my profile remains Crimson for at least until October 11th.

You see, the deal was this...loser's profile is owned until the losing team wins another SEC game. Georgia doesn't play another SEC game (or any game) until October 11th when they take on mighty (awful) Tennessee in Sanford Stadium. The whole "at least" part of October 11th is that Georgia actually has to win against Tennessee. Shouldn't be hard, but still...shame shame until the game.

So enjoy, fellow Facebookers. Enjoy the Roll Tide status, enjoy the screen-printed adornments and the "we're #1" smiling endorsement. It will be over soon as UGA returns to SEC dominance.

And for anyone willing to take another one of my foolhardy bets...here's one for a few weeks down the road. If UGA and Alabama have a rematch in the Georgia Dome for the SEC Championship game, at stake is a year-long shame. Not on Facebook this time, no. This time, it will be a little more gutsy - the winning team's logo affixed to your vehicle's rear window until 2009 season kickoff, and flags flying proudly from the windows for no less than a full week. No cheating, either...if you have more than one automotive choice, I will be happy to provide the additional stickers you'll need to properly dress all of your transportation.

Any takers?